1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a casino table capable of tracing the trajectory of a card, such as a playing card, used in a casino, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a casino, various types of games are played by using a card such as a playing card. A game result is determined based on a combination of cards, and a player therefore has a strong interest in contents of cards distributed from a dealer. Normally, a plurality of cards are used, and this makes it difficult to discover that one portion of the cards is changed. Thus, in order to obtain advantageous results as much as possible, there is no end to dishonest act in which cards are secretly changed while avoiding the control of the dealer.
To prevent this, in a casino, there is a disclosed a device in which the surface of a card used in a game is scanned before being distributed to a player and a symbol, a numerical value, etc., of the card distributed to the player are stored so that it becomes possible to confirm that the cards are not changed during the game (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. H10-508236).
Further, there is disclosed a device which images a card of a dealer by a camera and automatically determines the win/loss or a payout of the game based on an image recognition of the image of the imaged card (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-219588).
Moreover, there is disclosed a device in which a tag is contained in a card and a radio issued from the tag is received to determine whether a dishonest act is committed based on a position of the card, identification information of the card, etc.
Still further, there is disclosed a casino in which a monitoring camera is installed on a casino table and an image taken by the camera is projected on a monitor in a separate room allowing a monitoring personnel to visually confirm the image.
However, as described above, even in the case where the device scanning the card when the dealer distributes the card is used, whether or not the dishonest act is committed can be known only when the dealer checks the collected card after the game is ended. Thus, there occurs a possibility that it is difficult to specify the player who has committed the dishonest act.
The above device which images the card of the dealer by a camera and determines the win/loss or the payout of the game based on the card image recognition is capable of determining the win/loss or the payout not only based on the dealer's determination but also automatically. This prevents the device from paying back a chip having an erroneous payout amount to the player, which in turns alleviates a burden of a casino employee. However, this device images only the card of the dealer, i.e., images a narrow area of the casino table. This makes it impossible to adequately discover the dishonest act even when the dishonest act is committed in an unimaged area.
Moreover, in the case where the device using the card containing the tag, it is certain that the card can be monitored in real time; however, if the card containing the tag gets dirty or broken, then the card needs to be changed. The card containing the tag is more costly than a normal card, and thus, a maintenance cost of the casino inevitably becomes high.
Still further, in the case where the monitoring personnel monitors via the camera installed on the casino table, the monitoring personnel needs to always observe the monitor while the game is played. This imposes a burden on the monitoring personnel, and at the same time, there is a possibility that a moment when the dishonest act is committed is lost. Needless to say, it is possible to record the image taken by the camera; however, it is very difficult to check the huge recorded data, and this case also imposes a heavy burden on a person who checks the image.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstance. It is an object thereof to provide a casino table capable of reducing a maintenance cost, a personnel cost, etc., and adequately determining whether a dishonest act is not committed on a card arranged on a casino table by using a normal card not containing a tag, etc.